"How the EU works: In Germany, they make the rules, in Britain, theyobey the rules, in France, they bend the rules, in Spain, they break therules, and in Italy they have no rules at all."

On 2011-12-07 03:59:22 -0600, Martin said:

On Tue, 6 Dec 2011 18:26:47 -0600, Dan Stephenson
wrote:

On 2011-12-06 17:08:30 -0600, Jack Campin said:


True geniuses of engineering come up with something like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nits_graph.svg


- Now, how many poppyseeds are one shackle?

That gives two inconsistent lengths for the nautical mile. Follow
the path footyardfathomcablenautical-mile and you get 6000 feet,
but a direct link says 6080.

6000 feet is also referred to as a "data mile", in the US Navy.
British Navy, too, I wonder?

I think they wanted something more even, such as was the inventil of
the "mil" = 1/6400ths of a circle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_mile
--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On Saturday, 19 November 2011 09:24:42 UTC, Johannes Kleese wrote:
And in general, the English measures make more sense than metric,
anyway. Everybody knows this.

they're easier to manipulate in one's head

Indeed. 1 inch being 0.0833 feet or 0.02777 yards is a straight-forward
conversion and just makes sense.

Say I'd measured several small pieces and summed up to 1373 inch. That's
obviously 114.42 feet or 38.14 yards, got that in a second of thinking.
I wonder what wicked idiot came up with the idea that turning 3487
centimeters into 34.87 meters would be as easy?

a connection usually with something in everyday life (inch, foot, yard,
gallon, etc.),

Which could not be true for the metric system. And who uses a rule
anyway, we calculate using fingers so we may measure with thumbs, too.

Not to speak of the problem that a US liter surely is different from an
Imperial liter. Something that could never ever happen with gallons.

and all the tooling already invested-in are all in English / Imperial
measures.

Definitly. I still use those 200 year old tools, too. Those rulers with
both Imperial and metric units make me crazy.

You forgot one point, though: The metric system for lengths, for
example, is based on just one lame unit, the meter, extended with some
factor of ten, if needed.

True geniuses of engineering come up with something like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nits_graph.svg
- Now, how many poppyseeds are one shackle?

There are no English measurements! They are imperial measurements. What do the Scottish and Welsh use? !!!

On Wednesday, 7 December 2011 00:25:15 UTC, Dan Stephenson wrote:
On 2011-12-06 17:25:23 -0600, Jack Campin said:


IIRC dollar derives from thaler, not Dollar in Scotland.
Ah, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaler
Given thaler is a germanic origin for "valley", it makes me figure,
Dollar Glen, which named Dollar Castle, is really double-named, insofar
as Glen is also a name for valley.

Dollar in Scotland is from Gaelic "dolleir", "gloomy place", from
the deep valley you pass through to get to it. No connection with
the "-thal"/"-dale" Germanic toponyms.

Aha, thank you, Jack.

So much of Scotland is so pretty.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 http://www.campin.me.uk Twitter: JackCampin


--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

So are the Scottish girls too especially when they come!

On Sun, 27 May 2012 13:04:02 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Saturday, 19 November 2011 09:24:42 UTC, Johannes Kleese wrote:
And in general, the English measures make more sense than metric,
anyway. Everybody knows this.

they're easier to manipulate in one's head

Indeed. 1 inch being 0.0833 feet or 0.02777 yards is a straight-forward
conversion and just makes sense.

Say I'd measured several small pieces and summed up to 1373 inch. That's
obviously 114.42 feet or 38.14 yards, got that in a second of thinking.
I wonder what wicked idiot came up with the idea that turning 3487
centimeters into 34.87 meters would be as easy?

a connection usually with something in everyday life (inch, foot, yard,
gallon, etc.),

Which could not be true for the metric system. And who uses a rule
anyway, we calculate using fingers so we may measure with thumbs, too.

Not to speak of the problem that a US liter surely is different from an
Imperial liter. Something that could never ever happen with gallons.

and all the tooling already invested-in are all in English / Imperial
measures.

Definitly. I still use those 200 year old tools, too. Those rulers with
both Imperial and metric units make me crazy.

You forgot one point, though: The metric system for lengths, for
example, is based on just one lame unit, the meter, extended with some
factor of ten, if needed.

True geniuses of engineering come up with something like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nits_graph.svg
- Now, how many poppyseeds are one shackle?

There are no English measurements! They are imperial measurements. What do the Scottish and Welsh use? !!!

Cabers and saucepans.

irwell is even more funny than martin

"Irwell" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion :
...
On Sun, 27 May 2012 13:04:02 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Saturday, 19 November 2011 09:24:42 UTC, Johannes Kleese wrote:
And in general, the English measures make more sense than metric,
anyway. Everybody knows this.

they're easier to manipulate in one's head

Indeed. 1 inch being 0.0833 feet or 0.02777 yards is a straight-forward
conversion and just makes sense.

Say I'd measured several small pieces and summed up to 1373 inch. That's
obviously 114.42 feet or 38.14 yards, got that in a second of thinking.
I wonder what wicked idiot came up with the idea that turning 3487
centimeters into 34.87 meters would be as easy?

a connection usually with something in everyday life (inch, foot, yard,
gallon, etc.),

Which could not be true for the metric system. And who uses a rule
anyway, we calculate using fingers so we may measure with thumbs, too.

Not to speak of the problem that a US liter surely is different from an
Imperial liter. Something that could never ever happen with gallons.

and all the tooling already invested-in are all in English / Imperial
measures.

Definitly. I still use those 200 year old tools, too. Those rulers with
both Imperial and metric units make me crazy.

You forgot one point, though: The metric system for lengths, for
example, is based on just one lame unit, the meter, extended with some
factor of ten, if needed.

True geniuses of engineering come up with something like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nits_graph.svg
- Now, how many poppyseeds are one shackle?

There are no English measurements! They are imperial measurements. What
do the Scottish and Welsh use? !!!

Cabers and saucepans.